As we all know it is award show season. With new awards shows about every other weekend, the first months of the year are dedicated to recognizing and rewarding talent in all areas of media. This past Sunday, February 4, 2024, the Grammys took place. The Grammys Award Show is dedicated to music, musicians, and artists of a variety of genres coming together for one single night of celebration. The genres range from Pop & Dance/Electronic Music to Classical and nearly everything in between. While there are smaller awards within each genre, there are a few awards that hold the most prestige including Record of the Year and Album of the Year. In the 2024 Grammy Awards, Album of the Year was awarded to Taylor Swift for her album ‘Midnights’ which seems to be where everything went wrong.
I can’t say that I am a fan of Taylor Swift, her music, or her fan base, but she isn’t necessarily the problem here. Though I didn’t appreciate her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album, where she opened by pointing out her 13 Grammys wins and went on to thank the academy for “voting this way”, there is a deeper issue associated with her wins that night. Her award for Album of the Year made her the first person in history to win four of those prestigious awards which is an amazing feat and she should be extremely proud of herself. Hearing this record, you may be thinking, “She must have the most Grammy awards in history as well” - you would be wrong. Beyoncé takes that spot with 32 Grammy awards and still no Album of the Year award despite being nominated four times. Each of those times she lost to a white artist. This is the bigger issue. In the 66-year history of the Grammys, countless black people have been nominated for the category, yet only 11 have taken it home and only 3 were women.
At this year’s Grammy Awards, Jay-Z took time to address this issue during his acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Here, he called out the lack of attention black artists receive at the Grammys saying to the academy, “We love y'all. We want y'all to get it right… I don't want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn't work." referring to Beyoncé. He also points out the various boycotts in the history of the Grammys, highlighting the complicated relationship between the recording academy and black artists. Many artists that have won these awards make music that is completely inspired by black culture and community including The Beatles, Elvis, Bob Dylan, etc. yet there is little to no recognition of black influence and artists. This music enables the heavy incorporation of black musical style without black people. Yes, the opinion of who receives the award is subjective, but I find no reason for black artists to be awarded numerous smaller "racialized" awards while the prestigious awards continue to stay out of reach. This is the academy’s way of getting diversity points without having to consider black artists any further than awards in categories such as R&B or Rap with predominantly black artists.
Since Jay-Z’s speech, talk of the discrimination from the recording academy has been circling the internet. People are recognizing the issues, awaiting the break-up between black artists and the Grammys, saying there doesn’t seem to be a compromise in sight if they stay connected.
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